Wednesday, March 12 ~ Goal for Complete Unity

~Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

~~One of the earliest songs I learned in Sunday school was "Praise him, praise him, all ye little children. God is love! God is love!" We are taught that God is love and as Christians, that we too are to become a people of love. Today's scripture includes God's greatest commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your might;" In this commandment the Jews found unity. A sign of their identity was the wearing of this command to love God on their hands and foreheads. The words were placed on the entrances to their homes — visible reminders of the command to love.
This commandment has a corollary in both Old and New Testaments: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." At last month's meeting of the Soul Sisters, we discussed the book, "Love Does." The point of the book was that love is not love until it becomes action. Love for God (and therefore love for others) becomes real only when we act upon that love. Jesus entire life was an example of "love does." He demonstrated in words and actions what it means to love God by the way he treated others.
The Jews had visible reminders to love God.  What about us, should we also visibly display the words of Great Commandments? The answer is yes! In Jesus we have an example of what love is and of what love does. Therefore, rather than writing these commandments on our doorposts we should display them with our actions — in how we live our lives as Christians.
Lent is a time of reflection. As we think about today's scripture it seems appropriate to reflect on God's ultimate example of love found in Jesus. As we walk in Jesus’ footsteps toward the cross and contemplate the meaning of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, may the meaning of the Great Commandments become fresh and new in our lives. "We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord… and we pray that all unity will one day be restored; and they'll know we are Christians by our love."  "Love Does!" How will you "do love" during Lent?
Peggy Hickman